U.S. Deploys Slide Show to Press Case Against Iran
"U.S. Deploys Slide Show to Press Case Against Iran," Washington Post, 14 September 2005 by Dafna Linzer
The US is passing around secret power point presentation to its allies on Iran, indicating the dangers of WMDs.
They sent it to India- not interested. They are planning a huge oil pipeline from Iran through Pakistan. Good luck there.
They sent it to Japan. Do they realize how dependent japan is on Iran for their energy needs? apparently not...
Uhh...China! Yeah China!. Oops, didn't they just sign a big oil and gas deal with the aforementioned WMD state?
Ahh well. Someone's gotta be out there that doesn't depend on tehran for oil. Oh? Saudi Arabia you say? Well that seems like such a nice country doesnt it?
It seems to me that we are so focused on preventing Iran from getting nukes, we aren't looking into why exactly they want nuclear technology. Could it be that they simply want to advance their energy system to another level? Would they truly be moving so lethargically if they were looking to weaponize? Their potential for nuclear weapons does concern me. But can we realistically threaten Tehran and prevent them from progressing technologically? This seems to go against all of those principles of free trade that I hold so dear. Plus the prospect of invading Iran is not one that augers well.
So what say you? Let them have nuclear power, and risk the start a new age of deterrence and MAD with Iran, N Korea, and Israel as stakeholders, or masterfully inhibit Tehran through economic sanctions and risk the start of a violent US ground war with an opposition infused with islamic religious idealism ?
The US is passing around secret power point presentation to its allies on Iran, indicating the dangers of WMDs.
They sent it to India- not interested. They are planning a huge oil pipeline from Iran through Pakistan. Good luck there.
They sent it to Japan. Do they realize how dependent japan is on Iran for their energy needs? apparently not...
Uhh...China! Yeah China!. Oops, didn't they just sign a big oil and gas deal with the aforementioned WMD state?
Ahh well. Someone's gotta be out there that doesn't depend on tehran for oil. Oh? Saudi Arabia you say? Well that seems like such a nice country doesnt it?
It seems to me that we are so focused on preventing Iran from getting nukes, we aren't looking into why exactly they want nuclear technology. Could it be that they simply want to advance their energy system to another level? Would they truly be moving so lethargically if they were looking to weaponize? Their potential for nuclear weapons does concern me. But can we realistically threaten Tehran and prevent them from progressing technologically? This seems to go against all of those principles of free trade that I hold so dear. Plus the prospect of invading Iran is not one that augers well.
So what say you? Let them have nuclear power, and risk the start a new age of deterrence and MAD with Iran, N Korea, and Israel as stakeholders, or masterfully inhibit Tehran through economic sanctions and risk the start of a violent US ground war with an opposition infused with islamic religious idealism ?
posted by Sean @ 12:47 AM
1 Comments:
At 5:44 PM,
Dennis said…
Yes, Sean, there are no good options. I would disagree, however, that giving Iran a green light on nuclear power development fits under any realistic definition of free trade that I would defend.
Free trade under IAEA safeguards and supervision is one thing. But Iran knows it can extract concessions with its slow program, and I doubt that they could go much faster with a weapons program then they already are going. For all we know, they could be experimenting with building a bomb already or planning to test one. There are more signs of that then there were for Pakistan when it followed India's nuclear test in 1998.
Either way, sanctions or no sanctions, the prospect of a ground war that puts Iraq to shame is possible and should be avoided. It's in nobody's interest to see a nuclear Iran, so let's hope that increased American pressure and UN resolve and diplomacy can allow an EU deal to finally come through. If not, we're swimming upstream without an effective paddle and no matter where we go it'll be hard to avoid the rocks.
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